Lally Stott grave (16th January 1945 to 6th June 1977)

On the way to the coast for the day I stopped at a pretty church in Lancashire for a coffee and a sandwich. Someone had told me there was a singer songwriter buried in the cemetery. I’d never heard of him but I went for a look anyway. He wrote a number 1 hit apparently called Chirpy, Chirpy, Cheep, Cheep which reached the top of the charts in the seventies in many countries.

Lally (real name Harold Stott) spent several years in Italy as the front-man of the 1960s Liverpool beat band The Motowns. Over the years he wrote songs for artists (like Engelbert Humperdinck) and bands and gained moderate success.

Sadly he died aged 32 in June 1977. He’d been living in Italy and returned to England to set up a boutique with his sister. His motor scooter had been stolen and the police had found it and just returned it to him. Riding out on it a car pulled out in front of him and he rose into a telegraph pole. He was rushed to hospital but died three days later.

There was an impressive array of flowers on the grave considering he's been gone 40+ years. Thirty-two is only second gear isn't it? Poor kid. I did a salute and left.